School districts report count day numbers

ARENAC COUNTY — Sept. 30 was an important day for Arenac County schools, as the student counts reported Wednesday will decide how much state funding the districts will receive from the state for the per pupil allowance.

Arenac Eastern School District

At Arenac Eastern, this year’s fall count was 13 students lower than the fall 2008 count – 273, down from 286.

“We budgeted for 270 (students) so I think that maybe we’ll be alright there,” said interim superintendent Patrick Bootz.

While the overall student count is down, Bootz said there was some silver lining in the count.

“The good news is our kindergarten is up from last year,” he said. “We have 21 new students so that’s a good thing.”

AuGres-Sims School District

AuGres-Sims had bit of a roller coaster, as the month of August made it appear as thought he district was actually gaining students.

“Last fall our count was 400 and this year we have 398,” said an e-mail to the Independent from AGS Superintendent Anne Doriean. “In August we were up by 18 students and then in the course of a month we lost them. It appears that most have moved (for whatever reason), to other schools within the state.”

Standish-Sterling Community Schools District

School of choice additions to the peer count has Standish-Sterling facing a less-than-expected loss in the student count, as 1,782 students were counted on Sept. 30, only down 18 from fall 2008.

Superintendent Michael Dodge and members of the Standish-Sterling Board of Education had predicted a loss of at least 50 students at meetings over the summer.

Dodge said 54 students and their families took advantage of school of choice privileges and selected Standish-Sterling as their preferred district.

“Without them, we would’ve been down quite a bit more,” Dodge said.

Last year, schools received $7,316 per student, however, cuts have been proposed for per pupil funding. The State Senate has proposed cutting the amount by $218 per student, but no state budget has been passed yet.

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